NFL insider accuses Patriots of ‘sham’ interviews with minority head coach candidates
"It looks like a sham. I mean, I'll call it what I think it is."
There’s something fishy about the way the Patriots are conducting their head coaching search, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
The Patriots are in the market for a new head coach because they fired the organization’s first black head coach, Jerod Mayo, hours after the Patriots’ victory over Buffalo on Sunday.
Mayo, who went 4-13, is the second non-interim Patriots head coach to be fired after just one season. The other, Rod Rust, went 1-15 in 1990.
According to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, teams must interview at least two external minority candidates for head coach openings.
The Patriots have already met that requirement after interviewing Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton. Neither candidate has NFL head coaching experience. Neither has held a coaching position in the NFL since 2022.
Leftwich, a former first-round pick who played a decade in the league as a quarterback, most recently worked as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator alongside former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Hamilton had stints as an offensive coordinator with Indianapolis and Houston.
“It looks like a sham. I mean, I’ll call it what I think it is,” Breer said during a recent appearance on NBC Sports Boston’s Early Edition. “Those are two guys — and all due respect to Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich — I think they’d struggle to get coordinator jobs this year. “
“And for people who don’t know the mechanics of the rule, you have to have at least two in-person interviews with diverse candidates, and you are not allowed to interview anybody who is working for a team, playoff or otherwise. … So the reason you would do this and hustle two guys in who aren’t working for teams right now is because that’s the only way to check that box so you can actually go forward with hiring somebody.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said this week that he plans to move fast with the coaching search. NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry said the Patriots would like to finish the search by the end of the week.
The Patriots reportedly have an interview set up with Mike Vrabel on Thursday. Vrabel played linebacker for the Patriots from 2001 through 2008. He has six years of NFL head coaching experience and a winning record. He is widely considered to be a top candidate for the job.
“I think it’s complete garbage,” Breer said. “Like, what gives you the right to skip the process that the Raiders have to go through, that the Bears have to go through, the Jets have to go through?”
“Teams that are competing for him. What gives you the right to jump the line? Just because you have a relationship with him? Well, the Raiders do too. The Raiders have Tom Brady and Richard Seymour there. So what gives you the right to jump in front of all these other teams?”
New England has also asked for permission to interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. While Johnson has never been a head coach, his offense leads the league in points per game (33.2) and is second in yards per game (409.5).
Brian Flores, the former Dolphins head coach and current Vikings defensive coordinator who spent more than a decade on the Patriots’ coaching staff under Bill Belichick, told reporters that he would be interested in a return to New England. His defense is No. 5 in the league in points allowed at 19.5 points per game, and he would count as a minority candidate if the Patriots choose to interview him.
However, all signs point to Vrabel as the favorite, according to The Boston Globe. Kraft said he hired Mayo last year because he was afraid of losing him to another team. There’s a possibility that he has similar fears about moving too slowly on Vrabel this time around.
“You’re worried about losing him? Well, if you have that strong of a relationship with him, you shouldn’t be worried about losing him,” Breer said. “You should go through the whole process like the Chargers did last year when they knew they were going to hire Jim Harbaugh, probably from the jump.
“They still interviewed 15 head coaching candidates,” he added. “They interviewed nine general manager candidates. … Again, it’s like putting yourself in a different — it’s, ‘We’re not subject to the rules,’ which this organization, we should note, has had problems with in the past.”
Kraft inherited Bill Parcells when he bought the team in 1994. He traded for Belichick in 2000 and handpicked Mayo as Belichick’s successor. He hired Pete Carroll in between Parcells and Belichick.
The Patriots had several scandals during the Belichick era, including Spygate and Deflategate, which both cost the franchise draft compensation among other penalties.
The Patriots, once again, appear to be bending the rules, Breer said.
“This is very clearly flouting the rule. And look, we can argue about how valid the rule is and everything else,” Breer said. “What gives the Patriots the right to do this? They haven’t had a legitimate coaching search in 25 years. The Rooney Rule didn’t exist 25 years ago, so you can say the rule sucks and maybe it does, but what gives you the right not to have to jump through all the hoops that everybody else has for two decades?”
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